Tottenham Hotspur star Ben Davies urges teammates to heed Antonio Conte warnings
According to the Evening Standard, Tottenham Hotspur star Ben Davies has asked his teammates to take on board the messages and warnings from head coach Antonio Conte to improve their current form.
Spurs recently fell to a 2-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, which marked their third consecutive loss in the Premier League. They previously suffered losses against Chelsea and Southampton.
Davies, who moved to Spurs from Swansea in 2014, said that the squad was full of players who were determined to succeed and that the Tottenham stars were aware that they need to be better than they are.
“There’s a good group of boys here and everyone’s determined to be better. The standards we have set are better than we’ve shown and it’s up to us to prove that. It’s a group that’s hurting right now. It’s a tough result to take, we know how much better we have to be.”
Spurs go up against defending champions Manchester City next in the league, and they will need to find a way to shake off their poor run and put together an impressive all-round display at the Etihad Stadium. While doing so is no mean task, Tottenham cannot afford to drop more points in the race for the top four.
Learn from Conte
Although the North Londoners began the season unbeaten in the first month under then-boss Nuno Espirito Santo, their campaign was soon derailed. A poor run of form and results saw Nuno sacked from the job in November, and in came former Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte.
Davies has asked his fellow players to take in all that Conte has to teach them, urging the squad to imbibe the mentality that the Italian brings with him to the team.
“To have the opportunity to work under a world-class manager is always nice as a player. Sometimes you learn more in the tough times. We have to really take in what he says. We know he has the skill-set and the mental ability to make us better players. All we can do is learn from that.”
Conte’s arrival has certainly seen an upturn in the Lilywhites’ fortunes this season, putting together a team that is slowly but surely improving. February has not gone the manager’s way so far in the league, but if anyone were to turn things around, all bets would be on the Italian to do so.
Spurs have looked defensively more solid under Conte, and Davies has been a major part of that change. The left-back has slotted into a back three, playing well on the left side of the rearguard.
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Recent results will have dented Tottenham’s Champions League qualification hopes, but the club have enough games in hand to make up the deficit to claim the fourth spot. For a club of Spurs’ stature, regular seasons in continental Europe need to be considered a must.
Conte’s CV is stacked with trophies and achievements, and Davies is right in asking his teammates to pick up their socks and listen to what the manager has to say. We can hope that the Italian’s winning mentality and no-nonsense attitude rub off on the team soon, and they bounce back from this poor run in the Premier League.
